Last night, the Fox New All-Star Panel briefly took up the question of whether the recent criticisms of Barack Obama will hurt him, or help him learn how to handle such issues:
I think there’s a third answer, though: The criticisms helped him, not by preparing him for the future, but by getting these specific issues out of the way. As Fortune’s Nina Easton mentions, the Wright debacle didn’t hurt Obama among Democrats, but among independents and Republicans — given that this information was bound to come out eventually — it’s better to get it out during the primary. It’ll be old news come November, the first time it matters what those independents and Republicans think.